A Tactical Platform for the Unity Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.

Draft Resolutions for the Unity Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.

Fighting Guerrilla Operations

(1) scarcely anywhere in Russia since the December uprising has there been a
complete cessation of hostilities, which the revolutionary people are now
conducting in the form of sporadic guerrilla attacks upon the enemy;

(2) these guerrilla operations, which are inevitable when two hostile armed
forces face each other, and when repression by the temporarily triumphant
military is rampant, serve to disorganise the enemy’s forces and pave the
way for future open and mass armed operations;

(3) such operations are also necessary to enable our fighting squads to acquire
fighting experience and military
training, for in many places during the December uprising they proved to be
unprepared for their new tasks;

(1) that the Party must regard the fighting guerrilla operations of the squads
affiliated to or associated with it as being, in principle, permissible and
advisable in the present period;

(2) that the character of these fighting guerrilla operations must be adjusted
to the task of training leaders of the masses of workers at a time of
insurrection, and of acquiring experience in conducting offensive and
surprise military operations;

(3) that the paramount immediate object of these operations is to destroy the
government, police and military machinery, and to wage a relentless struggle
against the active Black-Hundred organisations which are using violence
against the population and intimidating it;

(4) that fighting operations are also permissible for the purpose of seizing
funds belonging to the enemy, i.e., the autocratic government, to meet the
needs of insurrection, particular care being taken that the interests of the
people are infringed as little as possible;

(5) that fighting guerrilla operations must be conducted under the control of
the Party and, furthermore, in such a way as to prevent the forces of the
proletariat from being frittered away and to ensure that the state of the
working- class movement and the mood of the broad masses of the given
locality are taken into account.